VinciWorks highlights top compliance trends in 2024
Top compliance trends in 2024, according to VinciWorks, include sanctions on terrorist financing coming back into vogue, the growing risk of neurodiversity discrimination, a continuing crackdown on financial crime, and the use of supply chain management as key to CSRD compliance. Not to mention the simple rule of telling the truth when it comes to ESG and keeping CEOs’ loose tongues under control, as well as the end of the crypto-currency fad.
Compliance training and software firm VinciWorks has highlighted the main compliance trends of 2024, calling this “an ever more complex year for compliance”.
Among the list is bribery compliance and using big data to get a handle on gifts and hospitality. Most companies have some kind of gift register, but too many rely on an outdated Excel spreadsheet. “The best thing businesses can do for bribery compliance is have the full picture of all gifts and hospitality that’s being given and received, and let the ‘big data’ do the red-flag spotting,” says VinciWorks.
The firm says one of the biggest lessons of the last year is just how dangerous a senior officer with a loose tongue can be, pointing to Sam Bankman-Fried’s conviction, to yet another Elon Musk storm, and to Dame Alison Rose, the (former) CEO of British mega-bank NatWest.
“The lesson for compliance teams in 2024 is get your CEOs and senior managers signed up to a stringent communications policy, and make sure they stick to it. Because if those conversations don’t happen in the boardroom, they could end up being hashed out in public,” it says.
VinciWorks notes that the dividing lines between terrorist financing, money laundering and sanctions are becoming ever blurrier: “Whether a firm is regulated or not, undertaking a sanctions and money laundering-focused risk assessment is the least a business can do to understand if it is a risk to be targeted by terrorists or oligarchs looking to hide their assets.”
Another trend is the rise of neurodiversity discrimination. VinciWorks says that in the last year, in the UK alone, more than 100 cases of neurodiversity discrimination were taken to employment tribunals, “a staggering increase from next to none in years past”. It recommends setting clear policies, training managers, and ensuring effective communication across the organisation, from hiring to performance reviews.
The firm stresses that if your organisation doesn’t yet have a menopause plan, it should be high on the diversity and inclusion agenda for 2024. “Menopause leave isn’t a complicated change to introduce. It can be as simple as allowing home or hybrid working on-demand or dropping the bureaucratic and outdated need for employees to bring medical certificates every time they have an appointment or are dealing with symptoms,” says VinciWorks.
VinciWorks also highlights a number of other diversity & inclusion trends for 2024, including that gender identity will remain in the spotlight, noting that “creating an inclusive workplace for individuals of all gender identities is paramount. Companies that fail to implement supportive policies and foster a safe environment for gender diversity risk damaging their reputation and losing top talent.”
Another trend is that employees want purposeful benefits, not just perks. “In 2024 and beyond, the paradigm of employee wellbeing is transcending the superficial trappings of typical perks such as free coffee and office snacks, and wellness programs adorned with bean bags and yoga mats. While mental and physical health support, stress management, and work-life balance initiatives remain vital, there is a seismic shift towards recognising the tangible facets that truly matter. A significant trend is the growing emphasis on financial wellbeing,” says the firm.
And it notes that the landscape of hybrid work “is in a constant state of flux, with a delicate dance between employee preferences and employer expectations”. While employees advocate for the continued flexibility of remote work, citing increased flexibility and better work-life balance, some employers are pushing to reintegrate teams into physical office spaces, arguing it strengthens employee culture and collaboration.
Also on the compliance trend list is financial crime risk, with VinciWorks warning companies not to fall victim to a false sense of security provided by EU membership, noting a string of new nations added to the FATF grey list, with Bulgaria joining its fellow EU member state Croatia as a jurisdiction of concern for various financial crime deficiencies, mandating enhanced due diligence on transactions coming from these countries.
On the issue of CSRD compliance, VinciWorks says supply chain management is the key. “If a business is not in itself reporting on CSRD, it will very likely be reporting back up the supply chain with that same CSRD information. From modern slavery to human rights and health and safety, CSRD data goes far beyond just emissions. Getting that data in one place can be a mammoth challenge in itself, but it’s going to be crucial in 2024,” says the firm.
And finally, VinciWorks makes no apologies for stating the obvious: Tell the truth when it comes to ESG. “It might seem odd to remind businesses to tell the truth, but when it comes to ESG, that message is vital going into 2024. ESG is being treated just like any other material disclosure. It has to be true, it has to be evidenced, and what’s published has to remain policy and practice,” it says.
